Wednesday, December 30, 2015

In a recent Nevermore meeting, our readers broached a variety of
subjects—James A. Garfield, introverts, photography, and presidential campaigns—and
even investigated some new fiction with Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman and Gone
Girl by Gillian Flynn.

First,
our readers jumped back into Gone Girl.After Amy Dunne disappears from her home in
North Carthage, Missouri, her husband, Nick, is put under close scrutiny as the
media and the police start to dig into his life to find out whether he really
is a killer.Filled with suspense and
mystery—and, more importantly, sociopaths (a favorite subject for our Nevermore
readers)—Gone Girl was definitely a
treat for our latest reader.According
to her it was “wonderful, a great book.”

Next,
our readers looked at Into the Kill
Zone:A Cop’s Eye View of Deadly Force
by David Klinger.As a former police
officer and a university professor, Klinger has interviewed dozens of officers
who have used deadly force in criminal encounters.He presents an in-depth look at the way
officers are trained, the conditions they face and the violence they experience
on the job, and the effects of deadly force in the lives of American police
officers.For our Nevermore reader, who
has friends working on the police force, Into
the Kill Zone was an excellent depiction of on-the-job hazards that police
officers face every single day.

Our
reader also discussed Destiny of the
Republic:A Tale of Madness, Medicine,
and the Murder of a President by Candice Miller.James Garfield was born into poverty, but he
became a scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman, and a presidential
candidate; however, after four months in office, an assassination attempt and
botched medical treatment resulted in his death.Our Nevermore reader said Destiny of a Republic was “a fabulous
book”—and what made the novel even more fascinating were the interviews with
the author on CSPAN.Miller explores all
the different facets of Garfield’s presidency and demise:his administration, his assassin, and his
doctors.

Continuing
the exploration of the American presidency, one of our readers discussed Believer:My Forty Years in Politics by David Axelrod.Axelrod, a journalist and political strategist,
has spent years in politics and cultivated a twenty-year friendship with
President Barack Obama, even contributing to his elections in 2008 and
2012.His memoir provides an in-depth
look at politics and presidential campaigns.Although our Nevermore reader had only read two-thirds of the memoir so
far, she thought it was an intriguing book.“It’s fascinating to realize what goes into a presidential campaign,
[specifically] Obama’s first presidential campaign,” she said.

Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t
Stop Talking by Susan Cain followed.Cain, a corporate lawyer, explores the
qualities of introverts and extroverts throughout the world, exploring the
repression of introversion in the United States—how extroverts are rewarded
more readily in society and the workplace—and nature versus nurture in the
development of introverts.Cain makes a
very careful, very accurate depiction of information and possesses a
textbook-like depth, presenting facts with clarity and accumulating knowledge
which our Nevermore reader found absolutely fascinating.

Additionally,
our readers looked at a brand new book to the library:Go Set
a Watchman by Harper Lee.Continuing
from Lee’s original classic, Go Set a
Watchman follows the return of Jean Louise Finch (Scout) to Maycomb County
from New York and chronicles her emotional turmoil as she’s confronted by
changes in her hometown that changes how she sees everything and
everyone—including her father, Atticus.For our Nevermore readers, Lee’s new novel seemed typical of any book done
in the south during this time; however, it was definitely a shock to see
Atticus in a brand new light, because, like Scout, our readers were given a new
perspective on Atticus Finch, “[he] was letting you reduce him to the status of
a human being.”

Monday, December 28, 2015

Isabella, Lady Trent, is famous
the world over as a dragon naturalist.She has helped bring the study of dragons to the forefront of modern
science, uncovering startling new truths about these enigmatic and, more often,
frightening creatures, and she has explored the world from Scirland to Eriga
and beyond.However, very little is
known about the illustrious Lady Trent—until now.In her own words, she describes her childhood
in her father’s library, her budding interest in dragons and natural history, and,
later, her expedition to Vystrana where she makes her first discoveries that
would forever change how the world viewed dragons.

I will say so now:dragons hold a special place in my
heart.Like Isabella, I’ve always loved
dragons—from reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini to The Hobbit by
J.R.R. Tolkien, or my more recent encounter with Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina
or Uprooted by Naomi Novik—and I have a suspicion that I always
will.So, as you might expect, I
absolutely adored A Natural History of Dragons.

Finely crafted and thoroughly
“researched,” Marie Brennan’s novel is a thrilling (and enjoyable) beginning to
a new series.I especially loved
Brennan’s attention to detail in her Natural History of Dragons.Brennan is careful to craft her characters—and
dragons—with believable qualities, making them seem unexpectedly real.She makes the existence of dragons seem like
a possibility.Like smart, adventurous
Isabella could truly exist outside of these pages.

And speaking of Isabella, I
adored her character.

As a scientist, Isabella makes
insightful observations and carefully documents the facts as she knows
them—and, more importantly, as she looks back, she’s careful to inform her
readers of her new knowledge without giving away too much or killing the
suspense of the novel.She has a
thoroughness that makes it easy to become immersed in her world, whether she’s
living in her native Scirland or adventuring in Vystrana.She has such a unique voice, alternating
between a young lady first making historic discoveries and an old woman
reminiscing about her past, that it actually feels like a memoir.

Although Isabella is a
scientist, her narrative isn’t bulky or unwieldy or weighed down.She doesn’t make readers wade through
scientific gibberish or unfortunately long anecdotes about the history of
dragons, she doesn’t over inform readers; rather, she explains without
inundating her readers or intimidating them.She allows you to join her in her discoveries without getting bogged
down—and her intelligence and sharp wit shines through her work.It makes her account of Vystrana that much
more enjoyable.

And if I’m being honest, I
absolutely loved the illustrations included in Isabella’s account.It gave her “memoir” a genuine feeling, like
a field book or a diary, and it gave a face to the characters—as well as the
dragons—that I came to know and love, and it made them that much more memorable
and tangible for me.Her illustrations
rounded out an already exquisite book, making A Natural History of Dragons
a book (and a series) that I’ll be sure to add to my collection in the future.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

This week’s Nevermore opened with The Gardens of Kyoto by
Kate Walbert, a first novel about love, loss, and war.The book opens with a line from Ellen, the
narrator:“I had a cousin, Randall, who
was killed in Iwo Jima.Have I told you?”
Ellen becomes infatuated with her cousin, a bookish young man who confides in
the shy, sensitive girl.After his
death, she receives some of his possessions, including a book entitled The Gardens of Kyoto. Her devotion to
Randall influences all of her other relationships, including a romance with a
soldier serving in Korea.Our reader
felt the book shared some similarities with the children’s classic by Burnett, The Secret Garden.She described it as a fun book with a secret
room that served as part of the Underground Railroad.

Gardens in the Dunes
by Leslie Marmon Silko is set around the turn of the last century, when the
Ghost Dance was used to try to bring the Messiah to earth.Native American sisters Indigo and Salt live
with their grandmother, but soon they are taken away by the U.S. government and
sent to an Indian School.Indigo is
adopted by a free-spirited white woman who is married to a botanist.The characters travel from the American
Southwest to South America and Europe, where the vivid descriptions of gardens
help illustrate a number of literary themes. Our reader couldn’t stop praising
this powerful book about plants, the environment, women, Native peoples, and
society.

Another reviewer highly recommended William Bradford’s account
of the Plymouth Colony.Known variously
as Of Plymouth Colony, William Bradford’s
Journal, and A History of Plymouth
Plantation, the book details the
voyage from England, arrival in the New World, and the subsequent hardships
faced there.It is the source for the description
of the first Thanksgiving, and inspired the creation of the current
holiday.Our Nevermore member found it
to be very readable and while she’d intended to only browse a few pages, she
ended up reading much more.

The Broker by
John Grisham also got a nod, with our reader saying that while it was
improbable but engrossing. Washington powerbroker Joel Blackman was sent to
federal prison for attempting to sell a spy satellite system to various
countries.Blackman is released from
custody early and sent to Italy where the CIA waits to see which of his various
associates will try to kill him first.

Henning Mankell remains a favorite author among club
members, as do many of the Scandinavian crime writers.This week’s book was Before the Frost, in which Kurt Wallander’s daughter Linda has just
graduated from the police force.She becomes
involved with a case involving a childhood friend who has disappeared, and soon
it appears that her case is related to something her father is
investigating.This was intended to be
the first book in a trilogy featuring Linda as the main character, but Mankell
became upset when the actress playing Linda in the Swedish version of the TV
series died and he abandoned plans for the other two books. Our reviewer was
disappointed, because she found the book to be very well done and invigorated
the series.

Another fun book featuring a police officer was Fugitive Nights by former police
officer Joseph Wambaugh. Our reviewer felt the plot was thin, but the book more
than made up for it with great characters and wonderful repartee.He said he felt as if he were “in the know,”
with police jargon and procedures.It’s
a feel good book and is definitely recommended.

The Night Sister
by Jennifer McMahon is set in a hotel in Vermont where three little girls once
played together.Then a frightening
discovery drove them apart.Years later,
one of the girls is accused of a crime and her friends come back to try to
clear her name.McMahon is known for her
suspenseful, supernaturally tinged novels.Our reader said it was a good story.

Monday, December 21, 2015

The
book begins with the story of Tommy Doyle, born during World War II, but never
knowing his father who was a serviceman killed in the conflict.The curious thing was that his mother never
said anything to the boy about his father’s death.Did he die a hero?As Tommy grew up he came to hear disturbing whispers
that his father was not dead, but had survived the war, returned home, married
someone else, and was then living in another state.

Tommy
knew that his mother had an old trunk,
and he came to suspect that it held answers to guarded family secrets.Even after she died and Tommy was married, he
could not bring himself to open the trunk.Its presence seemed to dominate the family household and to threaten
black revelations best left undisturbed. But Tommy’s wife Nancy was of a
different personality, and she asked permission to open the trunk.He agreed, and it was found to contain many
personal items, including loving letters to his wife that Tommy’s father had
written from outposts in the Southern Pacific.But why it had remained locked for so long remained a mystery. Nancy
encouraged Tommy to seek more information about his father and the
circumstances of his death. And this search becomes the theme and core of the
book.

They
began with the obvious and known facts. His father, Jimmie Doyle, had been a
gunner on an American bomber known as the B-24 “Liberator” that was shot down
during a mission against the Japanese-held island of Palau in the Southern
Pacific.The body had never been
recovered, the plane’s wreckage had never been located, and Jimmie was
officially “missing in action.” Government sources had little additional
information, but Tommy and Nancy soon made contacts with relatives of other
MIAs who were ready with friends and suggestions who would help.The search led to Palau, where aging tribesmen
described the crash of an American plane.Confusion about their accounts led to the discovery that on more than
one occasion American bombers had crashed on the island; indeed, there were
three.Search efforts were conducted on
the island and in the surrounding waters; technical information about the B-24
“Liberator” was extracted from Ford Motor Company archives, which had built the
plane.Families of the other crew
members joined in the effort.The quest
led in many varied directions, including the life of Charles Lindberg and his
participation in the American war effort in the Pacific.The entire strategy of the Pacific War was
explored in order to understand why fighting came to that lonely little island
of Palau.

At
this point the temptation is to say nothing about the ultimate results of the
search and let the reader dig out the facts himself.But we will leap ahead to the conclusion and
say that the day finally arrived when the correct wreckage was identified, its
contents were removed, including body parts, and among the items a dogtag with
the name DOYLE.More recent DNA analysis
led to the conclusion that in the wreckage the remains of five men could be
identified and the remaining body parts were buried in April 2010 in Arlington
National Cemetery in an appropriate service.

Today
Palau is an island country with close ties to US.It consists of about 250 islands, with a
population of 20,000 and is located SE of the Philippines and N of New Guinea. The
natives are related to the Filipinos. Palau’s chief economic resource is
tourism plus some fishing. The currency is the dollar. Palau’s history has been
rather chaotic.It became a Spanish
colony in 16th century, but it was sold to Germany after 1898. During
World War I, it was seized by Japan; then during World War II it was taken by
US and made part of US Trust Territory in 1947.It became fully independent in 1994 and is a member of the United
Nations.

Followers

About Me

The BPL Bookblog reviewers include:
Ambrea, who reads widely and who brings a fresh perspective to any review;
Christy H. who often likes a walk on the spooky side;
Kristin, the Eclectic Bibliophile who can help you find the perfect book;
and Jeanne. When we figure out what she does, we'll let you know.
BBL stands for "Bookblog of the Bristol Library." It also stands for "Be Back Later"-- as in, "Be back later, we're reading."